Wisconsin Child Welfare Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) System

Wisconsin’s child welfare system uses Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) to better understand what affects our system’s performance. This deeper understanding helps to guide improvements to child welfare practice, processes, and outcomes.     

What is CQI?

CQI is a circular problem-solving approach. The CQI process begins with many sources of data, such as case record reviews, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and performance dashboards. This data is analyzed to create information and knowledge used to make improvements to Wisconsin’s child welfare system.

Federal CQI Requirements

Federal regulations require all states to have a quality assurance system to assess services as part of their Child and Family Services Plan.  The Children’s Bureau carries out the Child and Family Service Review. The CFSR monitors our quality assurance system.

  • Round 1 CFSRs took place between 2000 and 2004.
  • Round 2 CFSRs took place between 2007 and 2010.
  • Round 3 CFSRs took place between 2015 and 2018. Wisconsin’s Round 3 CFSR occurred in April 2018.

To learn more about the CFSR Round 3, visit the federal resources page.

In 2012, the federal Children’s Bureau directed states to enhance their quality assurance systems through a CQI approach.

The Wisconsin CQI System

The federal government requires states to have a CQI system to assess and improve child welfare practice and outcomes.

Our state’s child welfare Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) system consists of multiple components.  These components include:

  • Qualitative data (e.g., targeted case reviews, surveys, focus groups, etc.)
  • Quantitative data (key performance indicators, administrative data, dashboards)
  • Improvement projects (Plan Do Study Act Collaboratives) 

The foundation of Wisconsin’s CQI system is collaboration with:

  • Partners within and across state agencies
  • County and tribal child welfare agencies
  • Other key stakeholders such as the Wisconsin Children’s Court Improvement Program
  • Partners in the university system 
Child Welfare CQI Advisory Committee

The CQI Advisory Committee is a group comprised of state and local child welfare agency leaders, as well as important partners from the Wisconsin Child Welfare Professional Development System, UW-Madison, and Children's Court Improvement Program. The committee meets quarterly to provide guidance on large-scale initiatives to support and improve Wisconsin’s child welfare system (which includes both Child Protective Services and Community-Based Youth Justice).  Some of the duties of CQI are:

  • Maintain regular meeting schedule and membership roster

  • Advise the division on development, implementation, and evaluation of child welfare improvement projects

  • Review data, outcomes, and key takeaways to inform next steps

  • Provide recommendations on child welfare programs and policies 

 

The CQI Advisory Committee has been involved in providing feedback on various statewide initiatives including:

CQI Reports and Case Review Dashboards

Child Welfare Case Records CQI Reports are case record reviews pertaining to Access, Initial Assessment and Ongoing Services in the Wisconsin child welfare system.

From 2015-2021, the Department of Children and Families assessed the quality of casework by using Certified Peer Reviewers to review randomly selected Child Protective Services (CPS) Reports and Initial Assessments from across the state. In addition to background information and the methodology of the case review process, the Access Dashboard and Initial Assessment Dashboard displays the results of the reviews pertaining to key outcomes.

CQI Workforce Surveys

The Division of Safety and Permanence within the Department of Children and Families has partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Survey Center (UWSC) to conduct a series of brief surveys of the child welfare workforce.  

The Child Welfare and Youth Justice Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Workforce Surveys cover a wide range of topics pertaining to the case workers and supervisors in Wisconsin. The surveys will be a key source of data and information for our child welfare Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) program.